Freshman Republican Congressman John Katko and Democratic challenger Colleen Deacon faced off in a debate last week, weeks from the results of the New York 24th Congressional District election.
Katko and Deacon questioned each other’s records for an hour during the Time Warner Cable News broadcast on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m., which aired again on Tuesday.
In the debate, they discussed issues ranging from local to national including police reform, unrest in the Middle East, ISIS recruitment in the United States, energy policies, the Affordable Care Act, Planned Parenthood funding, opioid addiction, the dairy industry and their own experiences.
Deacon previously served for six years as the top aid in Central New York for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and is running for an elected office for the first time.
When asked during the debate why voters should trust her in this congressional role, Deacon ensured her experience and reflected on the times that she has worked for the district and “rolled up her sleeves.”
“I know how government works on all levels,” Deacon said. “I know the challenges we face but I also know the potential that we have here. As somebody who has faced a challenge and who has faced a struggle, I know what it is like for so many families. I want to be a voice at the table, where there hasn’t been a voice before. ”
Katko was a former prosecutor who ran for the first time for a congressional seat two years ago during mid-term elections and won over Democrat incumbent Dan Maffei.
When Katko was questioned about whether he would continue to stand out from the Republican Party and not crack under pressure from GOP leaders if the democrats increase their standing, as polls predict, he reminded the audience about his experience as a prosecutor and his year in the House of Representatives.
“I had to move my family out of my house,” Katko said. “I had to move my family out of Puerto Rico [New York] as a special prosecutor there and despite all that, I never wavered in doing what was right in prosecuting those cases. I never backed down. That is why it is easy for me to stand up to my party and tell them ‘no, this is how I am going to vote.’ I have done it repeatedly and that is why I am one of the most independence voices in congress.”
Throughout the debate, Katko called Deacon out on a number of issues, but ultimately brought her experience into question.
“My opponent has been in politics pretty much most of her adult career,” Katko said. “ I have been involved with politics for two years and in those two year, I have done more than in the entire time that she was involved in politics on a local level.”
Deacon defended herself and clarified the difference between their political opportunities.
“I don’t know how he quantifies what he is even saying,” Deacon said. “I have had a lot of accomplished here and if he wants to talk about legislation, I was never in congress, I was never a congressperson from this district, so for him to say I haven’t got anything done that is just completely false.”
Despite disagreements about their accomplishments and experiences, the two candidates for the 24th district agreed on several issues, including the deployment of ground troops to Iraq only as a last resort and that Congress should equip all police officers with body cameras in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
New York’s 24th congressional district consists of all of Onondaga, Cayuga and Wayne counties and the western part of Oswego County, and includes the cities of Syracuse, Auburn, Fulton and Oswego.
According to the most recent poll by Siena College Research Institute and Time Warner Cable, Katko is building a wide lead over Deacon by 19 points 53-34.
The congressional election takes place on Nov. 8.
